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Son of Civil War veteran General N. Gano Dunn and Amelia Sillick,[8][9] Gano Dunn was born in Yorkville, New York. With a prospering law practice, General Dunn raised Gano and his younger brother Harris, across from Central Park, as befitted one of the "best-known lawyers in the city".[10] Inspired by his paternal grandfather, schoolteacher and inventor Nathaniel Dunn, young Gano was encouraged in both scholarship and practical invention.[1]:31[11]

In 1883, when Gano was twelve, he accompanied the former Mrs. Maria G. Robins Caswell to Europe. They were there met by General Dunn. With the General and Maria masquerading as man and wife, Gano traveled Europe for a year and half. By 1886, General Dunn's were unknown to his wife Amelia and New York Society.[12]

At the age of fifteen, while attending City College of New York, he began to work for as an operator for the Western Union Telegraph Company. During this period, in March 1887, Mrs. Maria Robins filed a lawsuit against Gano's mother, Mrs. Amelia S. Dunn, over a deed to a New York City property. In 1884, under pressure from the her "runaway husband", Mrs. Dunn had been forced to transfer the property, then valued at $18,000, to General Dunn's office clerk, Henry G. Hunt for a single dollar. Hunt then transferred the deed to Mrs. Robins. Attempting to maintain her interests, Mrs. Dunn gave a second deed to her sister-in-law, who then transferred this second deed to Mrs. Dunn's sister. With affidavits filed by her estranged husband from Canada, and testimony from Mrs. Robins, the case stretched until November 1887. Mrs. Amelia Dunn finally won the lawsuit and the Hunt/Robins deed to the property was invalidated.[10][13]

"Out of an almost infinite kindness for young men who were struggling, Mr. Edison received me in the midst of some laboratory work he was doing in the coating of laminated armature plates. Seeming to be interested in the questions I asked him, he drew me out in turn, and spent an hour personally showing me over his lamp works. .. . At the end of the visit, he offered me a job."

"Tesla solved the greatest problem in electrical engineering of his time. . . . My contact as [Tesla’s] assistant at the historic Columbia University high frequency lecture afterward, has left an indelible impression and an inspiration which has influenced my life."

—Gano Dunn, Letter dated July, 1931

Electronic and radio pioneers Gano Dunn and Columbia Professor Edwin Howard Armstrong both served as pallbearers at Tesla's funeral.[14]:7

His father's whereabouts remained unknown, until in August 1892, reporters appeared at the Dunn home with dispatches from Denver. Without money and thought to be insane, the former lawyer had shot himself and died. Gano quickly telegraphed Denver authorities to hold the body. With the intention of bring the body back home, Gano expressed to reporters the "sorrow that the scandal has dragged the family name through mire should now be revived by suicide".[12]

Gano Dunn, the President of J. G. White Engineering since 1913, was in Italy at the outbreak of World War I. Americans stranded in Europe had fled from Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland and Serbia to Italy, trying to book passage back to the United States.[17] With banks refusing to cash personal checks, Americans were short on funds. In Italy, a bank moratorium had been declared, with banks paying only "limited and small amounts daily".[18]:5

A Committee of Guarantors with Dunn, as treasurer, pledged 500,000 francs, gold to secure the charter of the ship Principe di Undine from Genoa to New York City. Using their personal fortunes, aided by American Express's Genoa office and National City Bank of New York, made the initial 10% payment five minutes before the charter option expired. Within two days, 400 anxious Americans booked passage, with Gano Dunn collecting cash or confirming evidence of credit. Only 60,000 francs were available in cash, the rest being credit, with payment guaranteed by the Committee.[18] A series of lectures were organized with Mr Gano Dunn speaking on Wireless Telegraphy.[18]:56 Each morning, Dunn posted the bulletins from the wireless on the progress of the war.

Dr. Butler, before sailing, had obtained permission from Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty to pass Gibraltar.[19] Challenged there by a English torpedo boat destroyer, the Principe di Undine was allowed to proceed into the Atlantic. 700 miles from New York, the ship was commanded to stop by an English warship. After verifying her cargo and passengers, the ship was allowed to proceed.

Concerned about their compatriots still stranded in Europe, the passengers voted to appoint a committee to inform public opinion and the United States Government of the conditions abroad. Arriving in New York on August 23, 1914,[20] Gano Dunn and the rest of the committee met with an assistant to the Secretary of State on Tuesday, August 25 and officially expressed to him their satisfaction with the steps the Government had taken at that time.[18]:59

Among the his fellow refugees aboard ship were Mrs. Julia Gardiner Gayley and her daughter Miss Florence Gayley of New York City.[18]:73 In 1920, upon the death of her first husband, James Gayley,[21] Julia Thurston Gardiner Gayley married Gano Dunn.[4] The couple moved to her home at 20 Washington Square North.[22]

^"DUNN TO GET HOOVER MEDAL". New York Sun. 4 October 1939. p. 10, col. 2-3. Retrieved 1 August 2014 – via IEEE Global History Network : Archives : Papers of Gano Dunn. He was born in New York city[sic] and has been President of J. G. White Engineering Corporation since 1913.

^"TOURISTS NEAR BY HELD UP BY WAR; 600 Americans in Bermuda Who Can't Get Home from Colony Now Under Martial Law. ABOUT THOSE IN EUROPE Some Making Their Way to London and Paris, but Others Find It Impossible to Travel.". New York Times. August 11, 1914. Reports from the Americans abroad indicate that most of them are now collected in a few large cities, where they are in comparative safety.|accessdate= requires |url= (help)

^"GANO DUNN AWARD". Retrieved 2015-02-24. Gano Dunn devoted a quarter-century of service to The Cooper Union. For fifteen of those twenty-five years, 1935-1951, he served as the President of the school while continuing to serve on the Board of Trustees. From 1948-1953 he served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees.